DUBLIN UNIVERSITY GAVE their top four hopes a shot in the arm with a brilliant 27-8 bonus point win over Young Munster at Tom Clifford Park.
Trinity were down at the break, but second half tries from Leinster Academy hooker Lee Barron (2) and Gavin Jones saw them pick up some valuable Energia All-Ireland League points on the road.
The Young Munster camp was badly hit by Covid-19 in the run up to the game, with four named starters unable to take the field.
The students started this Division 1A contest well with Rob Russell and Liam McMahon making early breaks, and their good early pressure was rewarded on 12 minutes.
Successive penalties put Tony Smeeth’s side in a good position near the try-line and after several close calls for the defence, Diarmuid McCormack eventually barrelled his way over.
Young Munster drew level just after the half hour through the in-form Dan Walsh. Good hands from Jason Kiely, Jack Lyons and Kiely once more led to a penalty that Evan Cusack kicked to the corner.
A devastating lineout maul followed and Walsh was on hand to add to the two tries he scored against Garryowen in last week’s derby defeat.
Cusack followed up with a late penalty from inside his own half that needed the crossbar’s help to get over, giving the Cookies an 8-5 lead.
However, with Cusack kicking out on the full at the start of the second half, things began to unravel for Gearoid Prendergast’s charges.
After a couple of scrums, Luis Faria powered through the Young Munster defence initially. Plenty of good work followed again from Trinity with Barron eventually touching down. Aran Egan’s conversion made it 12-8.
The visitors followed up with their third try soon after. They made their way into the home 22 with ease and referee Frank Murphy awarded a penalty that saw Young Munster scrum half Jack Lyons sin-binned.
Another penalty won, this time the Trinity maul was planned to perfection with Barron again in position to score the try. Egan hit the target once more with the conversion for 19-8.
Egan stretched that lead to 14 points with a penalty on 55 minutes and the game was put to bed when centre Jones bagged the bonus point try after good initial work from Ronan Quinn.
Hooker Dylan Donnellan grabbed his 11th try of the season, from a maul, in leaders Clontarf’s 26-13 bonus point victory at home to UCC.
The top flight’s bottom side led early on through the boot of Eoin Monahan, who split the posts from 54 metres out with his second penalty.
An inspired UCC were only 14-13 behind at the break thanks to Tim Duggan’s breakaway try in the corner, which out-half Monahan managed to convert.
Nonetheless, Clontarf wrestled back control when Donnellan and Cian O’Donoghue both crossed in the second half, adding to earlier converted efforts from returning lock Cormac Daly and Adrian D’Arcy.
A trio of second half tries from Max Abbott, Greg Higgins and Sean French steered Cork Constitution past Ballynahinch on a 26-15 scoreline. Con have moved back into the top four.
Relegation-threaten ‘Hinch fought valiantly, breaking the deadlock in the 35th minute with a well-taken try from South African winger Shane Ball.
In a bruising battle, tries either side of the break from John Forde and Abbott edged Con ahead and their backs did the damage in the 66th minute.
Off a scrum on the right, the half-backs and Niall Kenneally combined to send centre Greg Higgins through a gap and he showed a clean pair of heels to the cover for a sharply-taken score.
Full-back French used all of his 6ft 2in frame to stretch out and ground the bonus point try in the 77th minute. ‘Hinch had a late consolation score from lively flanker Oli Loughead.
Garryowen were brought back down to earth by a thumping 46-5 defeat at Lansdowne. The headquarters club bounced back from last week’s loss to UCD with a superb seven-try salvo on their all-weather pitch.
Garryowen centre Bryan Fitzgerald sped in between two defenders for a 22nd-minute try, but Lansdowne were in clinical form and Andy Marks helped himself to a brace of scores.
Lansdowne’s nifty number 10 Peter Hastie finished with 16 points, getting over for a 68th minute try and splitting the posts five times.
The best team performance of the day came at Lakelands Park where Terenure College extended their winning streak to eight games with a 60-8 hammering of UCD.
‘Nure made a lightning quick start, scoring six first half tries. They showed their slick skills out wide, especially with scores from Colm de Buitléar, captain Stephen O’Neill and Craig Adams, who ran in his ninth of the campaign.
Another impressive facet of their game was the set piece. A Levi Vaughan score and a penalty try from a maul highlighted the strong attacking platform that they engineer from their lineout.
Despite a try from UCD skipper Jack Ringrose, three more tries in the second half – including winger O’Neill’s second – put the icing on the cake for Sean Skehan’s men.
Ringrose took advantage of a Michael Melia yellow card, but ‘Nure had the final say with a lovely line from Peter Sylvester and a powerful Dewald Barnard carry for two closing tries.
DIVISION 1A:
CLONTARF 26 UCC 13, Castle Avenue
Scorers: Clontarf: Tries: Cormac Daly, Adrian D’Arcy, Dylan Donnellan, Cian O’Donoghue; Cons: Conor Kearns 3
UCC: Try: Timothy Duggan; Con: Eoin Monahan; Pens: Eoin Monahan 2
CLONTARF: Tadhg Bird; Seni Reilly Ashiru, Michael Courtney, Matt D’Arcy (capt), Cian O’Donoghue; Conor Kearns, Andrew Feeney; Darragh Bolger, Dylan Donnellan, JP Phelan, Cormac Daly, Fionn Gilbert, Alex Soroka, Adrian D’Arcy, Tony Ryan.
Replacements: Cathal O’Flynn, Ivan Soroka, Ben Griffin, Angus Lloyd, Michael Brown, Ed Kelly.
UCC: Rob Hedderman (capt); Joe O’Leary, Killian Coghlan, Billy Kiernan, Timothy Duggan; Eoin Monahan, Andrew O’Mahony; Alessandro Heaney, Tadgh McCarthy, Corey Hanlon, Richard Thompson, Mark Bissessar, Sam O’Sullivan, Peter Hyland, Jack Kelleher.
Replacements: Billy Kingston, Rory Duggan, Patrick McBarron, Aidan Brien, Sam Tarleton.
CORK CONSTITUTION 26 BALLYNAHINCH 15, Temple Hill
Scorers: Cork Constitution: Tries: John Forde, Max Abbott, Greg Higgins, JJ O’Neill; Cons: Aidan Moynihan 3
Ballynahinch: Tries: Shane Ball, Ryan Wilson, Oli Loughead
CORK CONSTITUTION: Sean French; JJ O’Neill, Greg Higgins, Niall Kenneally, Alex McHenry; Aidan Moynihan (capt), Duncan Williams; Liam O’Connor, Max Abbott, Dylan Murphy, Cian Barry, Eoin Quilter, John Forde, Michael Casey, David Hyland.
Replacements: Luke McAuliffe, Brendan Quinlan, Paddy Casey, John O’Callaghan, Gary Bradley, Tomas Quinlan.
BALLYNAHINCH: Paddy Wright; Ronan Patterson, Rory Butler, Ryan Wilson, Shane Ball; Greg Hutley, Conor McAuley; John Dickson, Diego Vidal Souza, Ben Cullen, Thomas Donnan, John Donnan, Bradley Luney, Oli Loughead, Callum Irvine.
Replacements: David Cooper, Matthew Cooper, Tom Martin, Stephen Campbell, Chris Gibson, Marcus Heath.
LANSDOWNE 46 GARRYOWEN 5, Aviva Stadium back pitch
Scorers: Lansdowne: Tries: Dan Murphy, James Reynolds, Andy Marks 2, James Kenny, Sean Galvin, Peter Hastie; Cons: Peter Hastie 4; Pen: Peter Hastie
Garryowen: Try: Bryan Fitzgerald
LANSDOWNE: Stephen Madigan; James Reynolds, Andy Marks, Paul Kiernan, Sean Galvin; Peter Hastie, James Kenny; Frank Kavanagh, Jamie Kavanagh, Ben Popplewell, Dan Murphy, Ruairi Clarke, Clive Ross, Jack O’Sullivan (capt), Mark Boyle.
Replacements: Patrick Nixon, Temi Lasisi, Darragh Murphy, Steven Walshe, Shane Hourihane, Sam Prendergast.
GARRYOWEN: Colm Quilligan; Aaron Cosgrove, Bryan Fitzgerald, Jack Delaney, Tommy O’Hora; David McCarthy, Evan Maher; Mark Donnelly, Dylan Murphy, Jack Mullany, Tim Ferguson, Kevin Seymour (capt), Roy Whelan, Alan Fitzgerald, Sean Rennison.
Replacements: Kieran McCarthy, James Kendrick, Jack Madden, Des Fitzgerald, Jack Oliver, Ed Barry.
TERENURE COLLEGE 60 UCD 8, Lakelands Park
Scorers: Terenure College: Tries: Colm de Buitléar, Levi Vaughan, Penalty try, Jake Swaine, Stephen O’Neill 2, Craig Adams, Peter Sylvester, Dewald Barnard; Cons: Jake Swaine 5, Pen try con; Pen: Jake Swaine
UCD: Try: Jack Ringrose; Pen: James Tarrant
TERENURE COLLEGE: Jake Swaine; Stephen O’Neill (capt), Colm de Buitléar, Peter Sylvester, Craig Adams; Cathal Marsh, Alan Bennie; Campbell Classon, Levi Vaughan, Andy Keating, Matthew Caffrey, Michael Melia, Harrison Brewer, Luke Clohessy, Jordan Coghlan.
Replacements: Dewald Barnard, Adam Tuite, Mike Murphy, Conall Boomer, James Thornton, Adam La Grue.
UCD: Dylan O’Grady; Ross Deegan, David Ryan, James Tarrant, Jack Ringrose (capt); Tim Corkery, Richie Fahy; Rory Mulvihill, Bobby Sheehan, Evin Coyle, Jonathan Fish, Gerry Hill, Jack Gardiner, Jack Coolican, Sean O’Brien.
Replacements: Charlie O’Carroll, Chris Hennessy, Robert Byrne, Simon Burke, David Heavey, Alex O’Grady.
YOUNG MUNSTER 8 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 27, Tom Clifford Park
Scorers: Young Munster: Try: Dan Walsh; Pen: Evan Cusack
Dublin University: Tries: Diarmuid McCormack, Lee Barron 2, Gavin Jones; Cons: Aran Egan 2; Pen: Aran Egan
YOUNG MUNSTER: Jason Kiely; Luke Fitzgerald, Harry Fleming, Evan O’Gorman, Stephen Lyons; Evan Cusack, Jack Lyons; David Begley, Dan Walsh (capt), Conor Bartley, Tom Goggin, Sean Rigney, Eoin O’Connor, Liam Neilan, Aidan Quinlivan.
Replacements: Mark O’Mara, Paul Allen, Craig Hannon, James McKeogh, Tom Ross, Cian Casey.
DUBLIN UNIVERSITY: Rob Russell; Liam McMahon, Luis Faria, Gavin Jones, Ronan Quinn; Aran Egan, Louis O’Reilly (capt); Bart Vermeulen, Lee Barron, Thomas Connolly, Harry Sheridan, Jack Dunne, Anthony Ryan, Alan Francis, Diarmuid McCormack.
Replacements: Mark Nicholson, Donnacha Mescal, Darren Magee, Aaron Coleman, Ted Walsh, Louis McDonough.
DIVISION 1B:
HIGHFIELD 19 BANBRIDGE 8, Woodleigh Park
Scorers: Highfield: Tries: Paul Stack 2, Chris Banon; Cons: James Taylor 2
Banbridge: Try: Robin Sinton; Pen: Adam Doherty
HIGHFIELD: Sam Burns; Luke Kingston, Paddy O’Toole, Mark Dorgan, Paul Stack; James Taylor, Chris Banon (capt); James Rochford, Kevin O’Byrne, Daragh Fitzgerald, Dave O’Connell, Fintan O’Sullivan, Ryan Murphy, Cathal Gallagher, Miah Cronin.
Replacements: Travis Coomey, Michael Dillane, Eoin Keating, Edward Earle, David O’Sullivan, Shane O’Riordan.
BANBRIDGE: Adam Doherty; Conor Field, Ben Carson, Jonny Little, Joe Finnegan; Andrew Morrison, Neil Kilpatrick; Callum Reid, Peter Cromie (capt), Stuart Cromie, Brendan McSorley, Matthew Laird, Alex Weir, Ryan Hughes, Max Lyttle.
Replacements: Timothy Savage, Josh Chambers, Martin Vorster, Robin Sinton, Aaron Kennedy, Lewis Nelmes.
MALONE v CITY OF ARMAGH, Gibson Park
(Covid-19-affected match cancelled – 0-0. Both teams are awarded two points)
NAAS 38 SHANNON 29, Forenaughts
Scorers: Naas: Tries: Bryan Croke, Gary Kavanagh 2, Sam Cahill, Peter Osborne, Tim Murphy; Cons: Peter Osborne 4
Shannon: Tries: Conor Glynn, Charlie Carmody, Ikem Ugwueru, Lee Nicholas; Cons: John O’Sullivan 3; Pen: John O’Sullivan
NAAS: Peter Osborne (capt); Matt Stapleton, Gary Kavanagh, Craig Ronaldson, Sam Cahill; Bryan Croke, Connor Halpenny; Jack Barry, Connor Johnson, Adam Coyle, Patrick O’Flaherty, Paul Monahan, Cillian Dempsey, Will O’Brien, Ryan Casey.
Replacements: John Sutton, Jack Coyle, David Benn, Paulie Tolofua, Tim Murphy, Fionn Higgins.
SHANNON: Aran Hehir; Ikem Ugwueru, Killian Dineen, Alan Flannery, Jack O’Donnell; John O’Sullivan, Ian Leonard; Conor Glynn, Alex Long, Luke Rigney, Ronan Coffey, Jade Kriel, Kelvin Brown, Charlie Carmody, Lee Nicholas (capt).
Replacements: Kieran Ryan, Cathal Hynes, Odhran Ring, Darren Gavin, Paul Curtis, Ian Brown.
NAVAN 28 ST. MARY’S COLLEGE 36, Balreask Old
Scorers: Navan: Tries: Jack Nelson, Hardus van Eeden, Sean McEntagart, Ben Daly; Cons: Mark Farrell 3, Ben Daly
St. Mary’s College: Tries: Richie Halpin 2, Myles Carey 2, Conor Dean, Ryan O’Loughlin; Cons: Conor Dean 3
NAVAN: Ben Daly; Rory Gordon, Sean McEntagart, Evan Dixon, Ben McEntagart; Colm O’Reilly, Mark Farrell; Niall Farrelly, Jack Nelson, Eoin King, Eoghan Noonan, Conor Hand, Conor Ryan, Conor Farrell (capt), Hardus van Eeden.
Replacements: David Clarke, Liam Carroll, Andrew Doyle, Shane Faulkner, Paddy Fox, Keith Kavanagh.
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE: Dave Fanagan; Matt Timmons, Myles Carey, Mick O’Gara, Craig Kennedy; Conor Dean, Adam McEvoy; Daniel Lyons, Richie Halpin (capt), Padraig Dundon, Peter Starrett, Liam Corcoran, David Aspil, Niall Hurley, Ronan Watters.
Replacements: Niall McEniff, Tom O’Reilly, Conor Corcoran, Daniel Leane, Ryan O’Loughlin, Mark Fogarty.
OLD WESLEY 22 OLD BELVEDERE 7, Energia Park
Scorers: Old Wesley: Tries: JJ O’Dea, James O’Donovan, Ben Burns; Cons: Ian Cassidy 2; Pen: Ian Cassidy
Old Belvedere: Try: Ariel Robles; Con: Justin Leonard
OLD WESLEY: Alex Molloy; Tommy O’Callaghan, Eoin Deegan, James O’Donovan, David Poff; Ian Cassidy, Ben Murphy; Harry Noonan, Ben Burns, Cronan Gleeson, JJ O’Dea, Iain McGann (capt), Willie Fay, Josh Pim, Sam Pim.
Replacements: Robert Byrne, Jacob Barrett, Alastair Hoban, Conor Gaston, Paddy McKenzie, Charlie O’Regan.
OLD BELVEDERE: Colm Hogan; Jack Keating, David Butler, Justin Leonard, Ariel Robles; David Wilkinson, Peter O’Beirne; James Bollard, Joe Horan, Ryan McMahon, Will McDonald, Connor Owende (capt), Fionn McWey, Calum Dowling, Tom Ryan.
Replacements: Tom Mulcair, Hugh Flood, Paddy Dowling, Harry O’Neill, Conall Bird, Tommy Whittle.
DIVISION 2A:
Cashel 22 Old Crescent 19, Spafield
MU Barnhall 50 Dolphin 24, Parsonstown
Nenagh Ormond 41 Ballymena 7, New Ormond Park
Rainey Old Boys 3 Buccaneers 60, Hatrick Park
UL Bohemians 5 Queen’s University 58, Annacotty
DIVISION 2B:
Ballina 19 Dungannon 28, Heffernan Park
Belfast Harlequins 32 Sligo 22, Deramore Park
Blackrock College 31 Wanderers 26, Stradbrook
Galway Corinthians 17 Malahide 37, Corinthian Park
Greystones 59 Galwegians 7, Dr Hickey Park
DIVISION 2C:
City of Derry 19 Midleton 20, Judge’s Road
Enniscorthy 29 Bangor 25, Alcast Park
Omagh Academicals 6 Clonmel 8, Thomas Mellon Playing Fields
Sunday’s Well 14 Skerries 9, Musgrave Park
Tullamore 28 Bruff 7, Spollanstown
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella, and Gavan Casey glance ahead to the Six Nations, chat about the Irish provinces’ progress in Europe, then discuss the latest off-the-pitch drama in Welsh rugby.